by A. Catherine
“Even if we did, it’s against the rules to share that much with a mortal,” Gabriel said.
He rolled his eyes. “You angels and your rules. So fucking frigid, no wonder y’all are stiff as boards. Whatever, it was just a suggestion.” He gave up with a sigh.
The other demons chuckled under the breaths while Kaleus was talking, the angels were a little fazed, trying hard not to show it. They weren’t accustomed to having their divisions and order questioned so brazenly.
Iaoel and Duma visibly adjusted their postures to look more relaxed. Lillith had made her way over to Duma, and when he adjusted, she couldn’t help but whisper to him.
“Don’t worry, baby. I like it when you’re stiff.” Duma didn’t have his wits about him to stop from choking on his own breath in response, coughing hoarsely. Lillith giggled at the reaction she stirred.
Jophiel stepped towards her. “Get lost, filth.”
Lillith scoffed but sauntered away.
“The almighty and Lucifer agreed that we are to work together,” Gabriel stated.
“Unfortunately,” muttered Jophiel, earning her a warning glance from Gabriel and a playful grin from the demons.
“None of us trust one another, but this isn’t going to work unless we all try to cooperate.” he looked at all of them one by one. “We’ll travel in pairs, to hold each other accountable and ensure that we’re on the same side,” Gabriel suggested.
“Who made him boss?” Kaleus snorted. Gabriel glared at him. He shrugged. “Relax, pegasus, for once, I agree with you,” he stated.
“Duma, you and Daevas should take a trip down to hell, Lucifer can help point you in the right direction,” Gabriel instructed.
Lillith rushed over to Duma, clinging to his arm. “Let me go with them and there’ll be no need for Lucifer. I know hell like I know my own—” she whispered the last word into Duma’s ear, though it didn’t take a brainiac to know what she implied.
Duma’s raised eyebrows and pleading glance towards Gabriel said enough.
Weighing the pros and cons in his head, Gabriel conceded, sending Duma to hell with Lillith seemed better than having him interact with his older brother.
“Fine, Lillith, Daevas and Duma, go.” Gabriel waved off.
Lillith hummed and grabbed Duma’s chin and turned his face close to hers. “It’s you and me, sweet cheeks.” Duma suppressed a gulp.
Daevas gripped Lillith’s other hand like it could bite him at any moment, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “Don’t mind me.”
The three having physical contact vanished together as one in a column of crimson smoke that looked more like liquid silk.
“Iaoel and Seere, you should go speak with other realms, starting with Purgatory, see if the Watchers have any relevant insight,” Gabriel ordered.
Iaoel nodded, agreeing with their leader. Seere looked to Kaleus, a silent conversation passed between them.
He nodded, “Keep in touch.” He smirked.
Seere smiled wickedly and held her hand out for Iaoel. “Purgatory, huh? Sounds like fun, how do we get there?” she asked.
Iaoel pressed their hand into Seere’s. “Reapers Creek, shall we?”
Seere wriggled her eyebrows with seductive delight.
“Lead the way, my enlightened friend.” With that they vanished in a pillar of light.
All that remained were Jophiel, Jade, Kaleus and Gabriel.
“What will you do?” Jophiel asked Gabriel.
“I should return to guard the human, keep watch. Though I think I might need to speak with a colleague of mine to see if they have any information.”
“I can take Guardian duty,” Kaleus offered.
Gabriel huffed, “Like I would leave you in charge of her.”
He grinned wickedly. “You sound awfully protective for someone who’s only been watching her for a few days. Guardian bond already beginning to chafe?” Kaleus teased.
Gabriel stepped towards him, tensing his muscles.
“It is a vital part of my mission to be her Guardian, I wouldn’t be a very good Guardian if I left her in the care of a hellborn, especially one such as yourself.”
“You said yourself we need to cooperate. That includes watching the human, yes? I promise I’ll only observe. And when you return, we can look deeper for clues. We are a team, are we not?” He raised an eyebrow to challenge him.
As much as he hated it, Gabriel couldn’t very well argue with him when it would go against everything he himself had said earlier. His disdain for Kaleus ran deep and working with him was the last thing he wanted, but since he had established himself as the leader of the demon hoard, it would make sense that they should pair up for their portion of the mission.
Gabriel sighed, releasing the tension in his shoulders.
“Fine. But I won’t be gone long. Keep your filthy hands to yourself. Only intercede if she is in danger, do you understand?”
“Whatever. Later, feathers.”
Without saying goodbye to Jophiel and Jade, Gabriel too left the cabin, extending his golden-white wings and taking flight back up to heaven. A small amount of gold light lingering in his wake.
Jade walked out into the street and watched him leave, Jophiel leaned against the open doorway.
“Well that was pleasant,” Jade remarked.
“Gabriel has a history with him. I don’t see this going well.” Jophiel shook her head, anticipating the brawls to come from this alliance.
“Let’s go, I think we can start in Egypt, talk to some of the Scribes there, see if we find an origin to whatever it is Gabriel saw in that dream,” Jade suggested.
Jophiel extended her owl-like wings, Jade followed suit. Like most of the lesser angels, she didn’t have large wings like the archangels, instead they were smaller, cream-colored wings.
“Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t Kaleus…?” Jade began to ask but stopped when Jophiel nodded. “Hm. I expected him to be more…well, more,” she chuckled.
Jophiel raised an eyebrow, her eyes looking out at the tracks left behind from his motorcycle. “You’ll find that any son of Lucifer will have infinite ways of surprising you, especially when you least expect it.”
With a mighty flap of their wings they took to the skies. Their flight stirring the dust and sand which surrounded the rotting cabin, some of the sand landed on the old wood of the cabin with a soft hiss, some of it disappeared into the dry air along with any evidence that anyone visited the old town to begin with.
All except Seere’s abandoned motorcycle streaked with green and pink paint.
SEVEN
Kale
BORING DIDN’T EVEN BEGIN to describe what it was like watching a human go about their daily, normal routine.
For someone who only last week just had a major supernatural experience, to just continue on doing mundane mortal things was just insane. There’s a reason demons only spend time with humans when they’re engaging in more entertaining activities.
I had arrived to watch over the human, Heather Coleman, hours ago. And already, I was bored out of my mind.
She was pretty average compared to most humans her age—had a job, and apartment, scholastic responsibilities... When she wasn’t pounding her fingers against the keys of her computer, she was tucked in a living room chair reading a book while sipping on cheap wine.
The moment that truly captured my attention was when she pulled a neon purple vibrator from her bedside table. As much as I would’ve loved to watch how she pleasured herself, it felt too creepy to do so without permission.
So, I left her to that sense of privacy, the same I granted whenever she showered or changed clothes.
While taking a break in the other room, I instinctively reached down the wide-open connection that became my tether to sanity.
Seere’s comical quips keeping me distracted enough from the muffled buzzing noise behind the bedroom door.
Having fun I see. She teased.
Their bond so potent that
she would feel his eyes roll back as though she had done it herself.
Oh yeah. It’s Mardi gras over here.
I made myself comfortable on the couch, though observing meant staying out of sight, staying quietly in the Ethereal realm, I could be right in front of the mortal’s face and she wouldn’t see me.
Eventually she exited the bedroom, her cheeks having a fresh flush of color to them. From my spot, I watched as she ate stinky take-out food and streamed a few episodes of Law & Order on the television until well past ten o’clock, after which I followed her into the bedroom.
I fought the urge to release tendrils of my power to ease the building pressure underneath my skin. Perhaps volunteering for this particular chore wasn’t a good idea.
Heather followed a bedtime routine as precise and practiced as a professional concert. Finally slugging herself under the thin covers to sleep.
When her breathing had become steady and long, I let a little heat release. Not enough to burn anything, but just enough to ease the growing headache against my temple.
Heather must have felt the heat subconsciously. She pushed back the blankets to free an entire leg to the open air. I opened her bedroom window to help vent the air a bit before I settled against the wall.
She was an attractive enough human. A mortal like her, a part of me wondered if she was single, and if so—why? But then again, I suppose her seemingly introverted lifestyle might’ve had something to do with it.
Featherbrain was right, from the outside she wasn’t all that interesting—perfectly, painfully normal.
It was about three in the morning when I had just about died of boredom. I ventured out of the bedroom and towards the bookshelf against the living room wall and plucked up a book.
“America Pacifica, hm. Not a bad choice.” I looked at the other options on the shelf: Earth Abides, The Passage, A Clockwork Orange, Spoken Here, The Body Silent… “Dystopian fiction and anthropological stories, surprise surprise.”
With a shrug and a sigh, I took the book in my hand with me back into her bedroom where she slept. I sat down on the chair next to her desk, opened America Pacifica, and began to peruse its pages. I noticed a multitude of blue-colored post-its bookmarking specific pages. I opened to one of them to find she had highlighted a quote.
Maybe she had some sort of extraordinary quality, secret even to her. Maybe she did have the power to alter the things she'd always assumed she'd have to endure.
“Searching to find something in yourself mortal?” I asked out loud, knowing full-well she couldn’t hear me, “Also, marking up your books, breaking the spine…” I clicked my tongue, peering at her sleeping form. “—what would the book community say.”
I fingered through the pages blindly and left the room to pull another book from the shelf. Finding more blue tabs with quotes highlighted. Seems she had each of her tomes bookmarked that way. A bibliophile, at least she used to be. I carefully placed all the books back on the shelf in the order they were before. Though I doubted she’d notice the shift in dust.
Back in her bedroom, I looked out the window of her apartment into the city below. At this hour, the streets were relatively quiet and dull, only the soft orange glow of the streetlamps and the occasional gust of wind pushing desert weeds around the pavement.
For a moment, the quiet was peaceful.
Compared to the pits of the Inferno, this heat was paradise. The orange glow wasn’t a sign of unending fire, but of a dry climate. No matter how boring this particular job was, at least it was away from everything else. And for a little while I could at least pretend.
A buzzing hum rang in the back of my mind, a signal that someone was reaching out telepathically with a message. This one had the familiar golden glow of my favorite archangel.
I loosened the shield in my mind, allowing in the message through to hear what Gabriel was sending me.
Haven’t set her on fire yet, right?
I rolled my eyes. There are other, more fun ways of keeping her warm.
I could feel Gabriel’s annoyance in his response, I’m serious, you better have kept your hands to yourself. Gabriel sneered.
Relax, featherbrain. I’m observing as promised. I see you’re taking your time.
The almighty wants me to stay a bit longer. Angels are afraid and aren’t cooperating when receiving new assignments because of it. I need to help alleviate some of the upset. Gabriel explained.
I chuckled. All you buzzards are cogs in the large machine. So industrialist and boring. At least it’s a good reminder of how much of a blessing our lives are, pun-intended. I glanced back at Heather, still soundly asleep.
Her head was buried in a pillow and half of her body messily outside of the thin sheet. Her baggy t-shirt had ridden up revealing a large portion of her bareback.
Mm, charming.
Gabriel made a gruff noise in my head. Need I remind you that I can read and see your thoughts while we’re connected like this?
A smirk formed on my lips; I couldn’t very well miss the opportunity when it presented itself.
Connected? You make it sound like such an intimate affair, feathers. I mean, I’d totally be into it—if you know what I mean. But I didn’t peg you for that type, though if you’re truly curious, you know I’d be more than happy to peg y—
A feral rumble vibrated the inside of my skull, cutting me off.
I swear on all things heavenly I will rip you apart if you finish that sentence. Gabriel quickly shot down my suggestive commentary.
My sly grin widened. Another idea to mess with him popped into my head then...
Fine, I won’t talk.
Using an extra amp of power I projected images from my mind to Gabriel’s, only these were with Heather.
Images of me climbing into the bed with her, letting my calloused hands wander along her fragile, smooth skin. My mouth brushing slowly up her body. Heather moaning low as she lowered her hands to tangle in my hair, pulling me up further to the hot core between her legs…
I wonder if she’s still wet from her earlier private session…
I winced as my images burned with a searing light and pain that spread across my entire head. I clutched my skull, gasping at the intensity.
Jesus fucking Christ, featherbrain.
Try that again, and I’ll fry every neuron. The light subsided, and I could finally see again.
I took the chance to erect some additional mental blocks that I had originally left down to avoid it happening again.
I took a deep breath, regaining my composure. So touchy, jeez. When was the last time you had your bill sucked?
Ignoring my comment he said, I should return sometime in the next couple of days, I’ll keep you informed if anything changes.
The arch-asshole dropped the connection without another word.
“Kay, bye,” I scoffed aloud. “We need to give you dodo’s lessons on phone call etiquette.”
It was frustrating that Gabriel had the upper hand in that moment. I’ll make sure it’s the last.
Normally my mental abilities were almost unparalleled. It was among my large cache of powers that gave me an upper hand in hell and in all the realms. Not to mention I could hold my own in a hand-to-hand fight against an archangel if I needed to.
“Who’s there?” Heather’s voice filled the room.
I whipped towards her, shocked. Did she hear me?
I did a quick check, making sure I was still in the Ethereal veil.
Yup…I was.
Heather still laid there in her bed and, as I moved closer, I realized that she was sleep talking. Only dreaming.
Her eyelids twitched and the muscles in her arms tensed. She could be having another nightmare. Gabriel did mention that he saw a wraith in her dreams earlier. Perhaps she was seeing it again.
Maybe it’s worth checking into.
I had promised I would only observe her until Gabriel returned. That should count towards her dreams, right? And if a parasitic wraith were
actually in her mind, it would potentially harm her.
It was decided then, it was worth the risk. I sat cross-legged on the floor beside her bed and lightly touched her hand to establish a connection. Closing my eyes, I focused my mind on her, and within moments I was entering the gates of her mind, wide open and easy for picking.
And inside, a horror lurked.